By
Quiros's Track To The North, After Leaving The Bay Above-Mentioned, It
Seems Probable That There Is None Nearer Than Queen Charlotte's Island,
Discovered By Captain Carteret, Which Lies About Ninety Leagues N.N.W. From
Cape Cumberland, And I Take To Be The Same With Quiros's Santa Cruz.
On the 30th, the calm was succeeded by a fresh breeze at S.S.E. which
enabled us to ply up the coast.
At noon we observed in 15 deg. 20'; afterwards
we stretched in east, to within a mile of the shore, and then tacked in
seventy-five fathoms, before a sandy flat, on which several of the natives
made their appearance. We observed on the sides of the hills, several
plantations that were laid out by line, and fenced round.
On the 31st, at noon, the S. or S.W. point of the island bore N. 62 deg. E.,
distant four leagues. This forms the N.W. point of what I call
Bougainville's Passage; the N.E. point at this time bore N. 85 deg. E., and the
N.W. end of Mallicollo from S. 54 deg. E. to S. 72 deg. E. Latitude observed 15 deg.
45' S. In the afternoon, in stretching to the east, we weathered the S.S.W.
point of the island, from which the coast trends east, northerly. It is
low, and seemed to form some creeks or coves; and, as we got farther into
the passage, we perceived some small low isles lying along it, which seemed
to extend behind St Bartholomew Island.
Having now finished the survey of the whole archipelago, the season of the
year made it necessary for me to return to the south, while I had yet some
time left to explore any land I might meet with between this and New
Zealand; where I intended to touch, that I might refresh my people, and
recruit our stock of wood and water for another southern course. With this
view, at five p.m. we tacked, and hauled to the southward with a fresh gale
at S.E. At this time the N.W. point of the passage, or the S.W. point of
the island Tierra del Espiritu Santo, the only remains of Quiros's
continent, bore N. 82 deg. W., distant three leagues. I named it Cape Lisburne,
and its situation is in latitude 15 deg. 40', longitude 165 deg. 59' E.
The foregoing account of these islands, in the order in which we explored
them, not being particular enough either as to situation or description, it
may not be improper now to give a more accurate view of them, which will
convey to the reader a better idea of the whole groupe.
The northern islands of this archipelago were first discovered by that
great navigator Quiros in 1606; and, not without reason, were considered as
part of the southern continent, which, at that time, and until very lately,
was supposed to exist. They were next visited by M. de Bougainville, in
1768; who, besides landing on the Isle of Lepers, did no more than discover
that the land was not connected, but composed of islands, which he called
the Great Cyclades.
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